COMTEX Newswire | November 4, 1999 | By Michael J. Strauss, Bridge News
London - Increasing support for genetically modified crops is starting to emerge from religious hierarchies and individual religious leaders in places where GM crops have been the subject of heated debate. This stance may become a factor in the GM controversy in Europe, where until now widespread public opposition to modified crops has slowed their acceptance.
The weight of this potential influence can vary depending on which religious body or leader comes out with the stance, how it is worded and how the pronouncement is seen in its broader social context. But while this may keep the impact of these views from being precisely measured, other controversial issues have shown that ethical and moral views tied to religious beliefs do play a role in shaping public opinion and can, by extension, affect government policies. In the last few weeks, the Roman Catholic position on GM crops became more clearly defined when an archbishop at the Vatican told a conference of Catholic leaders that the Church looks favorably upon the crops, and biotechnology in general, as long as they are used for the benefit of human beings, according to Agence France-Presse. Monseigneur Elio Sgreccia did, however, caution that people must constantly be vigilant about their use to ensure it is beneficial, which requires transparency and precise labeling for GM crops and the ingredients derived from them. In the UK, where public opposition to GM crops has been particularly strong, one Church of England commissioner has begun speaking out in favor of allowing church land to be used for trial plantings of GM crops. Writing several weeks ago in his Norfolk parish newsletter that "genetic modification uses nature's own God-given techniques for improving crops," Canon Bob Baker said the overriding reason for favoring GM crop trials is the crops' potential to survive disease, drought and pests.
"Crops that can better resist these enemies have the potential to transform the lives of whole countries. We are called to love our neighbors and we owe it to them to explore this way of helping them," he wrote. (See story .5403 for the full newsletter article.) This followed by several months the passage by the Church of Scotland's general assembly of motions that called on it to "recognize the potential for genetically modified crops for human, environmental and medical good" and to reject the idea of a moratorium on GM foods. The latter motion passed with a substantial majority. The church did back mandatory labeling of foods with GM ingredients, but for a different reason than the Vatican: "out of respect for the views of those who object to eating modified foods." It also urged the government to proceed cautiously on the whole issue.
Earlier this year, the London-based Jewish Chronicle reported the UK Chief Rabbi's Office considered there to be no issues of religious law raised by the presence of genetically modified ingredients in kosher food. This implied that crops from which the GM ingredients are derived are acceptable. London's rabbinical court also acknowledged that GM ingredients can be present in kosher food. In the Middle East, where most countries don't grow enough grain or oilseed crops to meet domestic needs, GM crops have caused much less controversy, possibly because of their potential to boost yields. But religious leaders in the region are nonetheless starting to consider how the crops correspond to their faiths.
A sheikh on the Fatwa Committee at Al Azhar, Egypt's leading Islamic scholarly institution, told Bridge News that genetic engineering is all right in agriculture but not acceptable in human beings. "If it is good for increasing agricultural production, then it is fine," he said.
(Giuseppe Bertoncello in Rome and Susan Postlewaite in Cairo contributed to this story.) Bridge News, Tel: +44 171 842 4230. Send comments to Internet address grainbridge.com
